Chefs or Cooks work in many areas of the NHS and Social Care and are responsible for ensuring that food served to patients, visitors and staff is well cooked, nutritious and of high quality.
As a Chef or Cook, you’ll be supporting the work of the catering team and making sure that the kitchen area operates efficiently to meet the needs of your customers.
Working life
Working as a Chef or a Cook means that you will take part in a variety of tasks each day. You will:
- Ensure that all food served meets food hygiene and food safety regulations.
- Prepare and serve food.
- Use kitchen equipment to produce dishes.
- Follow recipes.
- Store leftover food correctly.
- Work as part of a team.
- Plan meals and menus in collaboration with the Catering Manager and other healthcare professionals to meet the needs of patients who may have medical requirements, allergies or religious needs.
Working as a Chef or a Cook could mean that you work in or across:
- Acute hospital settings
- Community hospital settings
- For NHS England
- At the head office of an NHS Trust
- In Social Care
Requirements
Becoming a Chef or a Cook means that you will need a catering qualification at either level 2 or level 3. Some Chefs or Cooks start their careers as catering assistants and work their way up.
Depending on the role, some employers may ask for GCSEs or equivalent qualifications. When applying for a role as a Chef or Cook, there may be other skills or qualifications required but this will depend on the role.
Employers will also require you to have some relevant work experience or knowledge of having worked in a similar role previously. If you are considering a role in the catering team, it is a good idea if you can demonstrate where you have previously worked or volunteered in a similar role or where you have gained customer service experience.
Working as a Chef or a Cook will provide further opportunities to develop your career through apprenticeships and internal training and there are sometimes other ways to access employment in catering such as traineeships or internships depending on the Trust you work for.
Personal Characteristics
To work successfully as a Chef or a Cook, you need to consider your own personal characteristics. You would need to have the following attributes or similar:
- Be accurate and methodical and have good attention to detail.
- Be able to work as part of a team but also able to use your own initiative.
- Be able to work with all people from various backgrounds with different experiences.
- Be interested in food and drink.
Skills Required
To work successfully as a Chef or Cook, you also need to consider the skills that you have. You would need to demonstrate the following:
- Be well organised and able to plan your time.
- Be able to communicate with a variety of people using different methods.
- Have positive customer service skills.
- Be flexible, adaptable and responsive to changing situations.
- Be willing to work in hot, noisy environments.
- Be able to work to a deadline.
- Have an awareness of food hygiene and food safety.
Training and Development Opportunities
When you begin to work as a Chef or a Cook, you will receive training you require to be able to undertake the role successfully. You will receive an induction which will introduce you to the department you will be working in, will support you to access the IT systems if required and will ensure you are aware of the policies and procedures you will be required to following in the undertaking of your role. You will also have to complete any statutory and mandatory training that your employer requires such as fire training, data security training and customer service.
Career Development Opportunities
Once you have experience of working within the Catering team, there are other roles you could progress into. You could become a supervisor or team leader or progress on to become a catering manager.
Pay and benefits
Chefs or Cooks usually work around 37.5 hours per week. Depending on the role and the setting you work in, you may be required to work shifts, nights, evenings or weekends.
Chefs or Cooks in the NHS are paid using the Agenda for Change (AfC) system will typically start their career on AfC band 2 but with experience, further training and additional qualifications, can progress further up the pay scale.
Chefs or Cooks working for Social Care settings will be paid according to the employer they work for and the renumeration for the role will be shown on their job advert.
Other benefits of working within the catering team include access to a pension scheme, health service discounts such as Blue Light Card and 27 days of annual leave in addition to bank holidays.